Edwin Bernbaum holds a B.A. in Mathematics from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in Asian Studies from the University of California at Berkeley, where he is a Research Associate. A scholar of comparative religions and mythology focusing on culture and the environment, he worked with TMI on a program in the Indian Himalayas to involve pilgrims in reforestation, and he initiated TMI's project to develop interpretive materials for US National Parks based on the cultural and spiritual significance of mountains. He is the author of the award-winning Sacred Mountains of the World, the basis for a photographic exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution, and The Way to Shambhala, a study of Tibetan myths of the hidden valleys resembling the fictional Shangri-La of Lost Horizon. He has climbed and conducted research in mountain ranges throughout the world, and he leads seminars and lectures on mountains, leadership, culture, and the environment for organizations and audiences such as the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Wharton School, and the American Museum of Natural History.
J. Gabriel Campbell, Ph.D., has spent most of his life in the Himalayas. He was born and grew up in the mountains, and he conducted his Master's degree research for Wesleyan University in the Indian Himalayas. He conducted his doctoral research for Columbia University in far northwestern Nepal and has spent the majority of his last three decades based in Kathmandu. Ten of these were as TMI's Asian Director and the last seven were as Director General of the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). His research and development work have focused on community-based natural resource management, land use and climate change, institutional development, agricultural and economic strategies for mountain peoples, capacity development, adapting mountain policies, gender, and shamanism. He has worked with USAID, FAO, UNDP, the World Bank, and Mountain Travel and has spent considerable time in the mountains of Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, and Pakistan, as well as India and Nepal. He is a mountain climber and continues to travel to the world's remote mountain regions.
Rodney Jackson, Ph.D., is Director of the Snow Leopard Conservancy and spends most of his time in the Himalayas, where he is conducting a population count of this rare and beautiful species, described poignantly in the best-selling book "The Snow Leopard" by Peter Matthiessen.
Wendy Brewer Lama holds an MES from Yale University, and has worked in ecotourism development throughout Asia for the past twenty years. While living in Nepal from 1984 to 1999, she managed TMI’s Langtang Ecotourism Project and co-authored Community-Based Tourism for Conservation and Development, built upon the Appreciative Participatory Planning and Action (APPA) framework. With the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Wendy led some of the first ecotourism planning in China at Wanglang panda reserve in Sichuan; introduced Community-Based Tourism (CBT) to Kyrgyzstan; and brought eco-adventure tourism to Mongolia with USAID. From 2002-07, she advised the UNESCO Cultural and Ecotourism in Mountain Regions of Central and South Asia program. As owner of KarmaQuest Ecotourism and Adventure Travel, she organizes ecotours that support wildlife conservation and community-based conservation and operates academic travel programs for Stanford and other universities. At home in Half Moon Bay, California, Wendy introduced ecotourism to farmers, fisher-people, and Main Street entrepreneurs. Wendy is a former California Coastal Commission planner, and she enjoys bicycling and backpacking.
Dr. Jane Pratt, Ph.D., has worked in environmentally sustainable and equitable development in the U.S. and international arenas for more than 30 years. She is President of United in Diversity Forum, an Indonesian based non-profit helping to forge a new national identity for Indonesia, based on the multiple strengths of its diverse people. She is also a Founding Partner of EcoLogica, LLC., a consulting firm whose mission is to promote economic and ecologic sustainability. For eight years (1994-2002), Dr. Pratt served as the President and CEO of TMI where she helped focus TMI's mountain mission and pioneered new programs and partnerships. Dr. Pratt is also a founder of the Mountain Forum and helped to coordinate International Year of Mountains 2002 for the UN. Between 1979 and 1994, Dr. Pratt served in various executive positions at the World Bank, including Chief of the World Bank Office on the UN Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit).
Johan Reinhard, Ph.D., is a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, famous for his discoveries of Inca mummies, frozen sacrifices on the peaks of the Andes in Peru and Argentina. He also has explored the sacred valleys of the Himalayas and performed underwater archaeology in some of the world's highest lakes. His web site is www.johanreinhard.org
Lhakpa Norbu Sherpa received a Ph.D. in Forest Resources from the University of Washington. He is the first person from the Sherpa community to receive a doctorate. He began his education from the Sir Edmund Hillary Schools in Nepal's Khumbu region. His higher education was achieved through a Colombo Plan scholarship to Lincoln University in New Zealand followed by a Fulbright student scholarship to the United States. Dr. Sherpa joined the Government of Nepal in 1980 to work as Park Superintendent in Rara Lake and Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Parks. He collaborated with TMI in 1989 to carry out planning of the Makalu-Barun National Park, and later joined TMI on a full time basis as Manager of the Qomolangma Conservation Program in the Tibet Autonomous Region (China). He also served as Co-Director of the Mountain Institute's Himal Program from 2005 to 2009 during which he developed and implemented an integrated cultural conservation and livelihood improvement project in the Sagarmatha National Park. Presently, Dr. Sherpa is a Visiting Fulbright-Post Doctoral Fellow at Yale University, USA and a Senior Fellow with the Mountain Institute.
Robert Wampler, Ph.D., has worked on U.S. foreign policy, federal R&D and technology transfer strategies, and high technology business development issues. His current research interests include sustainable development and design, community- and regionally-based environmental protection and management, and ecological restoration. He plans to pursue these interests in support of The Mountain Institute's programs, particularly in connection with TMI's Major Mountains of the World initiative; sustainable development, environmental conservation, and cultural preservation for mountain towns and cities; and TMI's overall education and training program.
Research Associates
Jeremy Spoon, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Applied Anthropology at Portland State University. His research focuses on the influence of political economy on local ecological knowledge in and around protected areas. Dr. Spoon has conducted research with the Khumbu Sherpa inside Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) National Park, Nepal; the Southern Paiute/Chemehuevi around the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, Nevada; the Keekonyokie Maasai and Dorobo around
Hell's Gate National Park, Kenya; and Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) around Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii. His research interests also include environmental sustainability, spirituality, public anthropology, non-governmental organizations, participatory methodologies, ethics, and linked quantitative and qualitative methods. Dr. Spoon also has 12 years ofexperience (nine with TMI) collaborating with international non-governmental organizations on participatory interpretation/education and environmental management in Nepal, the United States, and Kenya.
